Adding an amusing dash of irony to the pageantry surrounding this year's unveiling, Time editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal revealed the cover, a composite group photo that includes actress Ashley Judd, singer Taylor Swift and former Uber engineer Susan Fowler, live on the TODAY show, a program that has been rocked by the national reckoning with sexual harassment in the workplace that these women purportedly helped unleash. Longtime co-host Matt Lauer was abruptly fired last week as eight women came forward to accuse him of harassment and assault.

For those who are unfamiliar with the reasoning behind these reasons, Judd went on-the-record in the original New York Times expose about Harvey Weinstein's multi-decade history of sexual assault and harassment - the piece that's widely credited with sparking the national movement - Swift won a civil lawsuit against a radio DJ who she said 'groped her ass' during a meet-and-greet a few years back, Fowler published a blog post about Uber's "frat" culture that eventually led to the company hiring former Attorney General Eric Holder to conduct an internal investigation.

"The galvanizing actions of the women on our cover…along with those of hundreds of others, and of many men as well, have unleashed one of the highest-velocity shifts in our culture since the 1960s," Felsenthal said in a statement.

In addition to Lauer, actor Kevin Spacey, journalist Charlie Rose, comedian Louis CK and US Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota were among the high-profile names who were summarily fired and shamed as multiple accusers came forward

Felsenthal noted the #MeToo hashtag, which he called "a powerful accelerant," has been used millions of times in at least 85 countries.